28/04/2019 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Brian Butler previews this year’s 5-month season at the Brighton Open Air Theatre, BOAT.

THE Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) launches its fifth and biggest season of shows to run from May till September at its Dyke Road Park home.

Some 140 different performances will be given by 80 theatre and music groups from all over the UK.

Highlights include Kick in the Head who present Airlie Scott as the comedienne Joyce Grenfell (Friday, May 10), Circus Xanti and Ali Williams Productions who will stage As A Tiger In The Jungle – a performance about life, lost children and circus (from Wednesday, May 22-Saturday, May 25).

The programme has the internationally famous Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on tour with three of the Bard’s plays – The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and Pericles (Wednesday, July 10 – Saturday, July 13) Uniquely at the start of each show the audience get to pick which of the three plays they want to see.

Other Shakespeare offerings include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Thursday, June 6-Saturday, June 8) and Romeo and Juliet (Thursday, June 13-Sunday, June 16) and an abridged version of all 37 of his plays in one session (Wednesday, June 19-Thursday, June 20).

On the solstice, classical guitarist Richard Durrant will perform Music for Midsummer, and on Wednesday, June 12, Brighton’s premier gospel choir Gospel in the Park celebrates its 19th year.

BOAT patron Simon Evans will be joined by two other stand ups to preview their Edinburgh Fringe shows.

The Who get a tribute evening with Johnny Warman’s Magic Bus Band on Saturday, July 6.

Other plays include The Legend of King Arthur (Sunday, July 21), Mary Stuart (July 17-20), Ayckbourn’s Joking Apart (Wednesday, July 31-Sunday, August 4), Wuthering Heights (Wednesday, July 24-Saturday, July 27) and Frankenstein (Tuesday, August 6).

A wide variety of music is being served up including Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf (Wednesday, August 7), Walk Like a Man – a 4 Seasons tribute (Friday, August 16), Sunday in the Park with Jazz hosted by Charlotte Glasson with Terry Pack’s Trees and Harry’s Tricks (Sunday, August 11). The Vox Beatles present Cavern to Imagine (Sunday, September 8) and the comic singing duo Going South present an event of musical frivolity (Friday, September 13).

In the open air cinema there will be screenings of Mary Poppins Returns (Saturday, September 21), and Grease (Saturday, September 21). And there’s an all-night sleep out under the stars to raise funds for the Clock Tower Sanctuary (Saturday, September 28). The season ends on Sunday, September 29 with an End of Summer Party by the Brighton Beach Boys.

Full programme and to book online, click here:

Victoria Nursing Group awarded Silver Award for welcoming LGBTQ people to their service.

MANY older LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people find themselves having to go ‘back in the closet’ when they enter supported living arrangements like nursing homes, but one group of care homes in Brighton and Hove are making sure that this isn’t the care for their residents.

Brighton-based LGBTQ charity Switchboard’s pioneering new LGBTQ Inclusion Award celebrates the first Nursing Home Group’s achievement of a Silver Award, joining the growing number of health and care settings across Sussex who have achieved an award for being welcoming to LGBTQ people.

Victoria Nursing Group are the first organisation of their kind of commit to making their service LGBTQ inclusive through a combination of training and making changes to their care homes, policies, and practices.

They have just been awarded a prestigious Silver Award by Switchboard for LGBTQ inclusion. This award means that their residents, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, will have a positive experience of their care and they will remain connected with the wider communities in the city.

There are an estimated one million LGBT+ people over the age of 55 in the UK. Evidence still suggests that older LGBTQ people feel unable to be open about their identities in health and social care settings.

Working closely with Switchboard, Victoria Nursing Group has confronted this issue in all three of its Hove-based homes by training over 75% of staff in LGBTQ Awareness and Inclusion, as well as introducing tools like pronoun badges and building links with LGBTQ services and support groups in the city. LGBTQ residents will now see their identities reflected in things like reading materials and posters, as well as being able to talk to staff about their experiences and their needs.

Switchboard's CEO presents Award to Emma Sherrif — Switchboard’s CEO presents Award to Emma Sherrif

Emma Sheriff, Victoria Nursing Group’s Care Quality Director said; “We are delighted to be accredited the Silver level LGBTQ Inclusion Award. The award is important to us in terms of both our staff and residents recognising our commitment to equality and inclusion. The teams have worked extremely hard to achieve the Silver Inclusion Award.  Staff have been incredibly supportive in assisting with the re-design of our equal opportunities monitoring form, coordinating training & speaking to staff about their understanding of our ‘preferred pronoun badges’.”

Daniel Cheesman, Switchboard’s CEO, added: “We are pleased to be able to award Victoria Nursing Group with the LGBTQ Inclusion Award and are encouraged to see how they have worked hard to involve staff and residents in making their homes LGBTQ inclusive.  At Switchboard we are passionate about making positive changes for all LGBTQ people including those who are in their older years who will have experienced a time where it was illegal to be themselves.  This makes working with organisations such as Victoria Nursing Group so special as it is making a real difference in the lives of many.”